Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_057.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-27 | 7KB | 128 lines

to its progress by the appearance and power of anti-
christ, the man of sin; but at the Reformation it broke
out again, and spread itself over many nations; and
though of late years there has been a decline, in the
latter day the knowledge of it will cover the earth, as
the waters do the sea, and multitudes shall be con-
verted by it; which is meant by the increase of Christ's
government. In the days of his flesh on earth, few
believed in him; after his ascension to heaven, there
was a large increase of his followers in Jerusalem, and
in the Gentile world; the Gospel being preached there,
more were the children of the desolate than of the
married wife; large numbers were converted, and
churches raised and formed everywhere; and in the
latter day the church shall fill the earth, and the king-
doms of this world will become the church of Christ;
all nations will flow unto it; the people of the Jews,
in a body, will be converted, and the fulness of the
Gentiles will be brought in; the interest of Christ,
which made so contemptible a figure at first, consisting
chiefly of the poor of this world, harrassed with perse-
cution, and disturbed by heretics, will now make a
very great one; the kings of the earth coming into it,
the wealth and riches of the world falling into the
hands of the saints, the greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heaven being given to them; Christianity
will be the universal religion of men, and which will
be attended with the greatest spirituality, holiness of
life, purity of doctrine, worship, and discipline, and
freedom from persecution, as follows. In the word
\^hbrMl\^, rendered, %of the increase%, the letter \^M\^, in the
middle of it, is shut, which in other places is open.
The Jews seek for mysteries in this. Aben Ezra says,
it respects the miracle of the sun, whose shadow re-
turned back in Hezekiah's time; this is said, to serve
an hypothesis; Kimchi observes, on the contrary, that
in, Ezra (it is in \\#Neh 2:13\\) the same letter at the end
of a word is open, which used to be shut, where men-
tion is made of the walls of Jerusalem being broken
down; and thinks is has this mystery in it, that at the
time of the salvation, the walls of Jerusalem, that were
broken down during the captivity, should be stopped
up, and then the government should be opened, which
was shut, until the King Messiah came. If there is
any mystery in this, it may denote that the govern-
meat of Christ, which would be for a time straitened,
and kept in narrow bounds and limits, should hereafter
be extended throughout the world, to the four corners
of it, to be firm and stable, perfect and complete;
which the figure of this letter, being, shut, and four-
square, may be an emblem of. See \\#Re 21:16\\. \*\\And
peace [there shall be] no end\\; this respects both the in-
crease and perpetuity of the peace of Christ's kingdom.
The peace of believers, under the Gospel dispensation,
is greater than that of the saints under the legal dis-
pensation, whose sacrifices could not remove a con-
sciousness of sin and its guilt; and who, through re-
rious laws threatening with death, were all their life-
time subject to bondage; but great is the peace of
New Testament saints, through the blood, righteous-
ness, and sacrifice of Christ, and which may be in-
creased more and more; and in the latter day there
will be more peace among themselves; Ephraim shall
not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim; the sticks
of Joseph and Judah shall be one nor will there ever
be any more discord between Jew and Gentile, the lion
and the lamb shall lie down together; there will be
no more war among the nations, after the battle of
Armageddon; and no more persecution, after the
slaughter of the witnesses; and this abundance of peace,
spiritual and temporal, will be as long as the moon
endures, \\#Ps 72:7\\ and all this will issue in eter-
nal peace in the world to come: \*\\upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom\\; that is, on it the Prince
of peace shall sit, who is David's son, according to
the flesh, and so his heir; see \\#Lu 1:32,33\\ and
which must be understood spiritually of the church
and people of Christ, who are his throne and kingdom;
in whose hearts he reigns by his grace and spirit: \*\\to
order it\\; dispose, rectify, put into form and order, and
adorn and beautify, by enacting laws for them, writing
them on their hearts, and putting his spirit within
them, to enable them to keep them; and by setting
persons over them, under him, as deputies and sub-
governors, guides and rulers, to explain his laws, and
enforce them; to teach them to observe all things
commanded by him; to whom he gives gifts for use-
fulness and service; and whose ministry he blesses,
for the conversion and gathering in of others, and so
repairs and glorifies the house of his kingdom; and
also by granting his presence in his word and ordi-
nances: \*\\and to establish it with justice and judgment\\;
by convincing men by his spirit of righteousness and
judgment; by revealing in his Gospel his own righte-
ousness to them; by forming in their hearts the
new man, which is created in righteousness and true
holiness; by teaching them to live soberly, righteously,
and godly; and by protecting them from all their ene-
mies: and so he establishes particular believers in the
faith of himself, and with the doctrine of faith, that
they persevere to the end; and his whole church upon
himself, the Rock of ages, that the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it; and in the latter day he will es-
tablish it upon the top of the mountains, \\#Isa 2:2\\: \*\\from
henceforth, even for ever\\; Christ's throne is for ever
and ever, his kingdom is an everlasting one; he'll have
no successor in it, nor any rival that shall ever dispost-
sess him of it; all other kingdoms will cease, but his
will remain for ever: though this clause, according to
the accents, is to be connected with what follows {w},
thus, \*\\from henceforth, even for ever. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this\\; all that is said in this verse,
and in the context, respecting the incarnation of Christ
and his kingdom; the veracity, faithfulness, and power
of God, are engaged to perform whatever he has pur-
posed and promised; and his zeal, which is no other
than his fervent flaming love, will move him to it, and
is effectual to accomplish it; his fervent love for his
own glory, which is his ultimate end in all his works
of nature, providence, and grace, will engage him to
fulfil whatever is foretold concerning the birth of
Christ, and redemption by him, and his offices and
kingdom; since this is greatly concerned in all these
things. his zeal or fervent love to his Son, shewn in

{w} So Junius and Tremellius, whom Reinbeck commends, De Accent.
    p. 387.